Sunday, March 19, 2006

New Interior Secretary Nominee

Earlier I mentioned that Gale Norton resigned her post as the head of the Department of the Interior and wondered what sort of troglodyte Bush would dig up to replace her. It seems that troglodyte is Dirk Kempthorne, the governor of Idaho. I really don't know much about this guy, but environmental groups are not pleased. What else could you expect? The L.A. Times has a profile of him, and they say that basically he's a nice guy who will get people in a room to feel good and shake hands, but ultimately come out on the side of oil drillers, developers, or pretty much anybody else who wants to cut down trees, pollute the air and water, or drive endangered species to extinction. Oh boy.

You can find out what the DOI does here. They run the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and other similar agencies. The EPA is a separate agency independent of any cabinet department.